USB Cables: beginning the rabbit hole


Time to audition USB cables. I have always used the same cable a 2004 beauty that came with my Mac G4 in 2004, so this should be fun.

A few questions from the team here:

1. Best way to audition so that I can return what I don't like? I'm in the U.S.

2. What brands would you suggest. Budget is <$500 for 1m. I will audition 2-3 to start with. Curious Cables is one.

3. Is there break-in required? If so, what method and for how long?

I promise to report back my impressions here.

 

dvvilkins

I've found that USB cables are just as much of a rabbit hole as any other cable type. Depending on your system they can make a small or a pretty large difference. So it seems worth experience to find a good one that you like.

I recently went through that process and wrote about it here https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/experience-up-leveling-streaming-with-usb-cables/post?postid=2760708#2760708 if you want to read the saga.

The summary is that I really loved the Pink Faun USB and the Veritas Cables Audax, with the latter being an amazing value. I also really enjoyed the Audience Frontrow although it seems a bit expensive compared to those first two cables. Also tried a Clarus Crimson which was decent and a Crystal Cable Diamond which I didn't like at all. 

Moral of the story is that price doesn't necessarily always determine performance, and some well regarded cables didn't really do great in my system. Maybe they work better for other situations though. Out of all the cables the Veritas Audax is worth a look, it falls in your price range and has an easy return policy if it doesn't end up being a good fit.

I am interested in hearing your comments after trying a few.  You really need to blind test them which is easy enough with a USB cable.  I tried a $40 'audio' cable from Amazon, which I think is very nice, a WireWorld cable, and the DH Labs Mirage.  I don't think I could tell a difference if I was blind tested.  Maybe I need to re-listen again.  I tested them with my wife and she felt the Mirage was the best, so we kept it in the system.  

My own journey proved to me that I upgraded cables too early. There's a good discussion here with a top guy at Benchmark about the order in which to upgrade components and the degree to which upgrades are likely to help. Cables are dead last and almost not worth thinking about given that most people have not optimized much more impactful parts of their system. FWIW. Here's the discussion.

@dvvilkins can you list your digital components that you would be connecting with this new USB cable?